


Immortals Still Have Fears

by DragonsIre



Series: Il Mio Tesoro e Il Mio Topolino [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy and her baklava, Arachnophobia, F/F, Found Family, Found family bonding, Learning about found family, M/M, Multi, Nicky is a good husband, Second half is fluffier, spider - Freeform, talk of phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27957068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsIre/pseuds/DragonsIre
Summary: Nile learns a bit more about her new family, particularly one of the things that makes Joe tick, and how to help him handle it. Meanwhile, everyone is filing away information for the future.
Relationships: Implied Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Others, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, implied Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: Il Mio Tesoro e Il Mio Topolino [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040866
Comments: 10
Kudos: 101





	Immortals Still Have Fears

**Author's Note:**

> Thought it would be fun to make immortals have fears beyond the “everyone dies and leaves me behind”. The series doesn’t have to be read in order for things to make sense, but there may be some small references between them (I’ve got a few more ideas that I’m trying to put to paper). As usual, I don’t have any character ownership and am doing this to work on my writing so if y’all have time I always appreciate any constructive critiques or feedback you can provide - I had to rely on Google Translate for the Arabic and Greek (sorry) & I don't have a beta for this so let me know if there are mistakes so I can fix them! Enjoy!

When Nile heard a shriek from upstairs, she couldn’t place which of her new family it was, but she had her pistol out, taking the steps two at a time on light feet. It was mid-afternoon, the group dispersed to do their own things in the small, rainy town they’d chosen to hunker down in, but despite their precautions it was possible that they’d been followed. Nile came around the corner more slowly, expecting to find insurgents, or Andy injured at the very least. Instead, Joe was in the hall, eyes locked on something on the doorframe of his and Nicky’s room. The naked fear on his face had her searching for a tripwire or hidden camera.

“What is it?”

“Al-Aleankabut!” His voice was still shrill enough to hurt her ears, a drastic difference from his usual calm rumble.

“Still working on the Arabic here Joe!” Nile hissed, unable to find anything of concern but trusting Joe. If he was panicking, it wasn’t going to go well.

“Il ragno, i aráchni!” That was close enough to English for her to realize just what about the doorframe was freaking Joe out.

“A spider? Really Joe?” She’d admit, it wasn’t tiny, but it was one commonly found in the Pacific Northwest and definitely not poisonous, not that it would really bug anyone but Andy if it were. “You’re immortal, one of the best fighters in the last thousand years, and you’re afraid of a spider?” Nile holstered her gun with a laugh.

“Stop saying spider! And leave if you’re not going to help.” She hadn’t heard that edge in his voice since they’d been with Booker after the lab, and she realized his fear wasn’t about it being (temporarily) deadly, but its mere existence.

“Woah, Joe I-“

“Yusuf, go downstairs.” Neither had noticed Nicky’s approach but Joe immediately tore his eyes from the creature and focused on his lover, nodding slightly. As he passed Nicky, he reached out and grabbed Yusuf by the back of his neck, bringing him down to bump their foreheads together and press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’ll handle it il mio tesoro.”

Nile watched with a raised eyebrow until she could no longer hear Joe’s boots on the stairs. “So arachnophobia? How does that work since you’ve definitely gone into caves and stuff.”

“It’s worse when he doesn’t have something else to distract him.” Nicky reached up, deftly catching the nuisance in his hand and heading to the open window to let it go outside.

“Guess life and death works.”

“Don’t tease him about it.” He closed the window with a little extra force. In that moment Nile remembered just how cold and deadly Nicky had been during the lab escape, and he’d been even more protective of Joe than normal since according to Andy. He could easily make their sparring sessions hell on earth, but more importantly, the couple was still raw from the situation with Booker and she didn’t want to rub salt in the wound by upsetting Joe.

“I won’t.”

“Are you-?” He trailed off, perhaps thinking it wasn’t his place.

“Not fond of thunder to be honest. Lighting’s fine, but that boom has put me on edge since I got to Afghanistan.” Nile shrugged, knowing exactly why but not wanting to go into specifics. They were family, but just like they hadn’t told her the particulars of killing each other during the Crusades, she wasn’t at a point where she felt like sharing the whole story. The knife across her throat wasn’t her first time seeing combat, just her first kill and death of many. “How can I help Joe? Or you?”

“Distract him. Get rid of it before he sees it. Don’t mention it unless you have to.” The fact Nicky didn’t share anything about himself didn’t go unnoticed, but she refused to pry.

“Got it.” They were nearly at the stairs and Nile realized that not once had Nicky used the term “spider”, either in Joe’s presence or after he left.

He brushed her arm briefly, one of those comfort touches she’d seen him give Andy multiple times in the last few weeks. “Is there anything we can do?”

“Thunder can’t be so easily dealt with.” Nile pulled lightly on one of her braids, biting the inside of her lip as she thought it over. “Remind me of the States – Chicago if you can – and put on music. Not much more anyone can do.” She smiled when they hit the lower floor, able to see Joe sketching at the breakfast bar, looking out over the small yard leading to the dense tree line. Nile watched as Nicky settled beside Joe, snagging an apple from the fruit bowl and slowly carving off pieces, handing most to Joe who took them without stopping his work. Neither mentioned the spider’s fate, one much nicer than what Nile would have provided, and she let it drop until Andy slipped through the front door a few hours later. Nile wasn’t sure when Andy had left, but she’d been disappearing most afternoons after morning training, occupying her time with whatever or whoever she’d found to do in the old lumber town as they waited for things to cool off and Copley to find a good opportunity for on-the-job training.

“Creepy crawly got inside?” Andy murmured, dropping onto the couch beside Nile to watch the football match, wincing when it pulled on her stitches. Not even Andy used the word if it could be helped, and Nile filed that tidbit away for future reference.

“How’d you know?” She shot a glance at the lovers, Nicky just leaning against Joe as he continued drawing, whispering something now and then too quietly for her to pick up.

“Only times he’s that focused is when he sees one or he’s drawing Nicky, and Nicky’s far too clothed right now.” When Andy saw the disbelief on Nile’s face, she pulled out a baggy of baklava from her pocket, gave an offhanded “you’ll learn,” and took a bite of the sweet.

“You’re going to get cavities eating so much sugar.”

“Worth it. I know you’re dying to ask.”

“Is there something for you like Joe? Or does it fade eventually?”

Andy delayed answering for a moment by finishing off the first piece and starting in on a second. “I’ve already survived my worst fears, but they weren’t of the same kind as Joe’s.”

“So they don’t numb.”

“No. No they don’t.”

“Can I ask what they were?” Andy and Nile had become closer since she’d come for them in the lab. Half of morning training was really Nile trying to explain the most recent technology to Andy since as a mortal it wasn’t going to feel obsolete quite as quickly, and with Booker excommunicated, none of them were particularly on top of tech things.

“Losing Quynh and being betrayed. They were abstracts until they came to pass, but as scary as the ideas were, actuality is infinitely worse.” It was times like these when Nile recalled that Andromache was over five thousand years old (an offhanded comment about the slave market in Uruk being right next to the best pottery stall as Nile watched a history show on Sumer the first weekend at the remote house gave her a basis since Andy refused to tell, or possibly didn’t know, how long she’d been alive). “Booker was not the first, but I hope he may be the last.”

‘AKA don’t screw me over because I can and will destroy you’ Nile’s mind translated helpfully. She couldn’t stop the soft “Andy” as she shrugged it off and went back to her baklava.

“Joe’s got it worse. Buildings weren’t sealed until recently, and growing up like that in the 11th century? I can't imagine. It wasn’t like people didn’t have phobias until now – people were probably even more terrified but survival wins out just about every time. Quynh was the worst though. She’d see a dragonfly and start hyperventilating so we'd usually end up calling it a day and setting up camp. I never did find out why; they’re harmless to normal people let alone an immortal.” The wistful twist of her lips made Nile’s chest tighten, thinking of her own lost family. Suddenly a piece of the sticky sweet was held in front of her eyes, which had Nicky nudging Joe and nodding towards the couch.

“Andy’s formal approval.” Yusuf finally set down his sketchbook, curling into his lover. "Il mio topolino, ricordi quando l'ha fatto per noi?"

“Don’t spoil your dinner!” Nicky called when Nile carefully took the baklava. “I’m making gnocchi.”

“Seriously? She’s on her third!”

“He really is like one of those Italian grandmothers you hear about.”

“No sfogliatella for you Andy!”

“No worries, I’ve got baklava.”

“Where did you even get that? I know Nicky didn’t make it and there isn’t a real bakery, let alone a patisserie here! And how did you fit that much in your pockets?”

“Oh Joe, that’s a secret.” Nile couldn’t help snorting as she watched them squabble, so much like her mom and brother, and she hoped that if they saw the tears prickling her eyes, they were mistaken for the result of laughing too hard.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on my own arachnophobia (and honestly, I had to take a shower while writing this to help deal with the psychosomatic effects which I probably should have seen coming), and I hyper-fixate on something else as my method of coping which I know is not how everyone deals with their phobias. Thanks for reading and if y’all have time, feedback makes me a very happy (and hopefully improving) writer!
> 
> Il mio tesoro = My treasure  
> Il mio topolino, ricordi quando l'ha fatto per noi? = My little mouse, you remember when she did that for us?


End file.
